PO Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s New York magazine articles on the science of parenting have won the Magazine Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Their articles for TIME magazine have won the Award for Outstanding Journalism from the Council on Contemporary Families. Prior to collaborating, Bronson authored five books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller What Should I Do With My Life? Merryman’s journalism has appeared in the Washington Post and the National Catholic Reporter.

From the Publisher

“In a world of modern, involved, caring parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? Where is intelligence hidden in the brain and why does that matter? Why do cross-racial friendships decrease in schools that are more integrated? If 98% of kids think lying is morally wrong, then why do 98% of kids lie? What’s the single most important thing that helps infants learn language?

NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. They argue that when it comes to children, we’ve mistaken good intentions for good ideas. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring–because key twists in the science have been overlooked.

Nothing like a parenting manual, the authors’ work is an insightful exploration of themes and issues that transcend children’s (and adults’) lives”.

My First Thoughts:

NurtureShock is fascinating, not only for the topics it covers but also for how well Bronson and Merryman have written it. How often can you really say a book contains a lot of data and is easy to read? They report on studies and their results from scholars and researchers covering diverse topics such as praising, sleep deprivation, race, lying, gifted kids testing, sibling relationships, teen rebellion, self-control, childhood aggression and language acquisition, yet it never feels like a textbook.

While never pretending to tell me how to raise my kids, after reading it I found myself thinking twice before acting in specific situations with my children. It has helped me to understand certain behaviors in my own kids, and with this understanding, I have a better idea of what to do. In addition, it has made me reflect on the way I was raised and given me a better understanding of myself and my own behavior.

If you are a parent, an educator, work with children, or are a person interested in child psychology (or if you ever were a child 🙂 ) you need to read this book, I’m sure you will find it as interesting as I did.

Would you like a chance to win a copy? Hachette Book Group has generously offered 5 copies for me to give away to my readers; you have to register in the form below for your chance to win:

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Extra entries:

1. Leave me a comment telling me why you would like to win, 1 entry

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3. Subscribe to my blog by email and get 1 entry

4. Follow me in Twitter and tweet this giveaway and get 1 more entry.

5. Blog about this giveaway, and you will get 3 entries, please come back and paste the link.

Please leave me one comment for each option (1,2,3, 4 or 5), so I know how many entries you have. This giveaway will end September 15th at 11:59 p.m. PST. Open to residents of Canada and the USA only. Hachette Book Group will send the book to the winners, no P.O. boxes please. Winners will be randomly chosen. Good Luck!